Name: Why are we at war with Iran? | The Gray Area
Uploaded: 2026-03-06T16:43:44.000Z
Duration: 36 min 35 s
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I mean, I wish I could give you more answers.

So I've been reporting on this war since, you know, basically one hour after it started.

And I can say the most certainty I can tell you is that the range of options from this exact moment is that on one end, Iran has a US Friendly, perhaps semi democratic government to allout regional war in the Middle East.

My guest today is Alexander Ward, my friend, former VOX colleague, and

now a national security reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

Alex is the first person I call or text whenever there is an international incident of any kind.

And he always very patiently answers my questions.

I've definitely been more rested, but I'm fine.

We really do sincerely appreciate you doing this on very short notice.

We are speaking on Monday afternoon, March 2, and

it goes without saying that things are changing very quickly.

By the end of this taping, there may be a completely different situation on the ground, but

And so, look, all we can do is assess things as they are right now, and

You know, I don't fully understand the situation.

I am worried, I'm confused, I'm a little angry.

So at the end, I can probably still be worried, but maybe at least informed.

Before we get to where things are now, I just.

Let me just go back to the decision to strike Iran in the first place.

It is actually the multimillion dollar question, because I'm not sure I can even answer that question.

I'm not even sure President Trump can answer that question.

But let's start with what the rationale that they now say is the rationale.

It started when there were major protests against the regime, and

Trump promised, quote, unquote, help is on its way.

But what happened was in large part because Trump was worried about what it could unleash.

And also there were allies, particularly Saudi Arabia and Israel, who said, hey, you, the US Are not well positioned enough to protect us and your own troops should the Iranians retaliate to any strike.

The US Amasses a pretty large, what Trump would call it armada, two carrier strike groups, jet fighters, other, other warships off the coast of Iran, while the US Says to Iran, hey, why don't we negotiate the end of your nuclear program and, and

ballistic missile program and support for proxies, etc.

And that goes on for quite some time while this armada amasses.

And we could talk about why it failed, but the diplomacy failed.

And when it did on last Thursday, Trump basically went, okay, diplomatic route's not gonna work, so now it's time to hit Iran.

there are all kinds of mixed messages about what we're trying to accomplish.

But to back to your point of why we did this.

So initially start with the protest, then it was about the nuclear thing and that failed.

And then at the State of the Union on Tuesday, before the strikes, I should note Trump was also, also mentioned the decades long fight between the US And Iran.

There's been a pretty long shadow war, if we want to call it that, between the US And Iran, in which Iran has killed a lot of American service members and Americans themselves.

And they were, you know, based on US Intelligence, working on a nuclear program and they were trying to get an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the U.S.

so Trump basically goes between the protester thing, between the fact that they won't give up their nuclear program, the fact that they are, could threaten Americans and have killed Americans.

Was there actually any evidence that there was an imminent threat?

Has anyone even attempted to make the argument that there was an imminent urgent threat?

Yes, the Trump administration has tried to.

This would have been Saturday, three Trump administration officials, pretty senior ones, I can't say who, but

they did a briefing for some reporters and they said, look, we, the Trump administration, have evidence that they have made a decision to seek an icbm, that, that intercontinental ballistic missile, that they were trying to reconstitute their nuclear program, and

that they were weighing the idea of striking Americans before the US Hit them.

So at that point, it was worth going ahead and hitting them before they hit the U.S.

So basically 24 hours after that briefing time is a flat circle.

So on Sunday they brief members, excuse me, staffers of congressional staffers in which they, they were asked, so the Iranians were planning a preemptive strike on the US Wouldn't that be basically suicidal for them?

And they went, oh, it's not that they were planning one necessarily.

It was just that if the Israelis had struck the Iranians first, then they would have hit us.

So basically when we're talking about imminent, I don't think anyone is saying like they were going to attack Americans tomorrow, although they sort of did, I guess, on that preemptive strike point.

But they are saying they are going to strike America at some point and it is not prudent or wise to wait until they're in a stronger position so looming it's coming, they are hell bent on hurting America.

I mean, you've heard Trump use language similar to the Iraq war, which was like, they are attacking civilization.

You know, it's kind of like they hate our freedom.

To make that parallel that this was some, that this is a theocratic, which it is a theocratic like regime really trying to destroy America and Israel.

And so it was, it time's up, I guess it was last June, America and Israel bombed Iran, bombed nuclear facilities and we were told they obliterated their capabilities of their facilities.

How do we go from being obliterated to, you know, a half a year later needing to start a war and decapitate the regime?

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Why are we at war with Iran? | The Gray Area

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